Too Young, But Never Too Old
by UNseated4TH
Summary: The legal age for drinking in the States is 21. Coincidentally, Alfred only appears 19. Sucks when, as a nation, you can't even chill and have a glass of beer in your very own country...  Slight UKUS if you want to read it that way. Mildly fluffy.


**Kris: Heyy~ This is my first Hetalia story ever o.O Please enjoy~!**

* * *

><p><strong>Too Young, But Never Too Old<strong>

Alfred was at quite an undignifying loss.

"Don't you have any idea who I am?" he questioned the waiter, who only responded with an odd stare.

Needless to say, the 'guy's night out' wasn't going as planned.

Since his four main allies were to be staying the next few nights in his home country, Alfred had wanted to do something that night that they'd all like, and a chance to enjoy modern American culture at its best wouldn't go untaken. So he'd found a trendy upper-mid class bistro in New York, not too quiet though not too packed, and made bookings for the five of them.

Before they'd ordered their drinks and meals however, the waiter had informed them that he would need to check their IDs to ensure proof of age—they'd been getting a lot of underages lately, and wanted to be sure all their guests were of age.

Yao, Ivan and Arthur had shown their IDs without much fuss. The waiter had ensured Francis that he didn't even need to see his proof of age, leaving the Frenchman feeling somewhat offended over the implications.

Finally, the when waiter had reached Alfred, the nation shuffled through his wallet and slowly withdrew his ID, already knowing what the outcome would be.

"I'm sorry," the waiter had said as he observed the ID, "But as your ID says, you're only nineteen. You aren't allowed in this area for another two years. Please leave, or we'll have to use force."

And now…America, though knowing this was coming, was simply at a loss.

"Don't you have any idea who I am?" he questioned.

The waiter gave him an odd look. "Uhhh…should I? Look kid, this is the United States. The legal drinking age is twenty-one, and if you don't like that then maybe move to somewhere like England or Australia or somewhere the restriction is low enough for you."

Alfred groaned. This was humiliating. Getting sent out of a pub for being underage in his own country. It wasn't fair, why did the drinking age have to be so high here? He'd been able to drink in public in all his allies countries without a fuss, not to mention that, granted he _was_ younger than his allies who were here with him, he'd technically been 'of age' far longer than the waiter had even been alive.

"Who're you calling 'kid'?" Alfred asked the confused waiter.

And in his own mind, rightly so; he'd fought for this country countless times. He'd been with it through its ups and downs, and boy, was he connected to it like no one else. He _was_ the country after all; he had been for over 200 years.

"Uhh…" the waiter looked at him as though he was some sort of weirdo.

Arthur stood, breaking the tension.

"Terribly sorry about my little brother," he apologised to the waiter, "He has a few issues, you see. I'll just take him out to the tiny-tots room, you can go ahead and take the other's orders."

The waiter gave him a thankful look, before giving directions to the kiddy-room.

"Iggy…" Alfred complained as the other nation took him by the wrist and headed toward the exit, "I don't want to go to the tiny-tot room. This isn't fair!"

Arthur didn't respond. Possibly because he was laughing too much.

"Its not funny!" Alfred snapped whilst he was lead out into the busy night.

"Well I thought it was," replied Arthur, "Too bad you don't look just that little bit older, hey Al? And at the rate we age, even that bloke's grandchildren will probably be able to send you out to the kiddy-room."

"Its not fair," the American pouted once again, as they paced down the street, "I'm not _that_ young."

Arthur smiled. "You are to me."

"Yeah, I guess…"

…

"_You coming, England?" a younger America called out to the man who took care of him._

"_Yes. I'm on my way," the English man responded, heading out into the open field where the young country awaited him, "I can't play for long today though, Alfred."_

"_Aww, why not?" Alfred pouted._

"_I have an important world meeting to go to."_

"_That sounds boring."_

"_Yes, it is. But you don't have to worry about going to those boring meetings just yet, you're too young."_

"_Okay!"_

_This would soon change._

_However, even as Alfred grew rapidly, he always remained young. Even as times changed and he began to develop into a superpower seemingly overnight, he kept his young and carefree mindset, despite the large responsibility that came with it. He'd often rush into things without thinking, and Arthur often found himself wondering what the world would come to, now that it so strongly relied on that child he had held and hushed to sleep not all that long ago. Sometimes Arthur wondered if it was fair that so much pressure should be placed on a nation so young, so unexperienced. But despite all things, Alfred remained young in spirit and in age._

…

"Furthermore," Arthur scolded as he and Alfred wandered further up the artificially-lit street, "I wouldn't feel like looking after a drunken teenager such as yourself."

"Only in appearance. Besides, look who's talking," Alfred replied, "You get drunk much easier than me."

"Well then, Mr. Old-and-Mature," Arthur addressed him as they drew to a halt outside a Ben & Jerry's stall, "Too old for some ice cream?"

Alfred eyed him excitedly. "Never."

"Then come on. I'll get you something you can have instead of alcohol."

"Really? Awesome!"

Arthur chuckled; his test had proven positive. "I knew it. Still a kid in mind…"

But Alfred had already run into the shop.

"You coming, Arthur?" he called back.

"Yes. I'm on my way." _Little tyke, he's hardly changed a bit._

* * *

><p><strong>Kris: 'Cause America's still so young compared to some of the other nations *.* And he acts like such a kid xD Erum…this ended up <em>way<em> less crackish than I thought it would o.O Its kind of scary actually, how non-crack his is, yet it comes from me O^o...Oh well! I'll write something more crackish later.**

**Anyways, I hope you liked that :D Were they well enough in character? Once again, this is my first time writing anything Hetalia, so please review your thoughts xD**


End file.
